Apparatus for freezing



. F. B. DOYLE APPARATUS FOR FREEZING Filed on. 28, 1945 Sept. 10,- 1946.

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r-us ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 10, 1946 APPARATUS FOR FREEZING Frank B. Doyle,Phillipsburg, N. J., assignor m Ingersoll-Rand Company, New York, N. Y.,a corporation of New Jersey Application October 28, 1943, Serial No'.507,993

Claims.

V the food product from one processing zone to another.

Still another object is to avoid the unnecessary expenditure of powerfor processing the material.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed outhereinafter.

In the drawings accompanying this specification and in which similarreference numerals refer to similar parts,

Figure 1 is an elevation, shown diagrammatically, of apparatusconstructed in accordance with the'practice of the invention,

Figure 2 is an elevation, partly broken away, r

of the upper part of the main processing unit,

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the remaining lower portion of themain processing unit;

Figure 4 is a transverse view taken through Figure 2 on the line 44looking in the direction indicated by the arrows,

Figure 5 isa similar view also taken through Figure 2 on the line 5-5,and

Figure 6 isan elevation, partly broken away and somewhat enlarged, of adetail.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the apparatus, designatedin its entirety by 20, comprises 'a main processing unit 2| andevacuating means, designated broadly 22, for creating a vacuum incertain zones of the main unit 2| to freeze the material intended to beprocessed.

In a preferred form the main unit 2| comprises an elongated casing 23that may be constructed, as shown, and occupies a vertical position sothat the food material may pass therethrcugh by gravity.

The interior of the casing 23 is divided into blanching, freezing andstoring chambers 24, 25 and 26, respectively, the blanching, chamber '24being at the upper end of the casing and separated from the freezingchamber 25 by a wall 21. At the upper end of the blanching chamber is acharging opening 28 to admit the food material into the blanchingchamber, and the end porin sections of suitable length I tion of thecasing defining the opening constitutes a seat 29 for a cover 30 forminga closure for the opening 28. A sealing member 3| in the cover 30engages the seating surface 29 to seal the casing at this point.

The cover 30 is manipulated through the medium of a lever 32 havinganend 33 pivotally connected to a lug 34, on the casing, by a pin 35extending through the two. The lever 32 overlies the cover 30 in spacedrelation thereto, and in its opposite end is a slot 36 to receive aneyebolt 31, the eye 38 of which is pivotally connected to a lug 39 onthe casing 23. The force required for holding the cover in the closedposition may be applied by a nut 40 on the eye-bolt and seating againstthe lever 32.

As will be explained more fully hereinafter, the vegetable material issubjected successively to a blanching medium and to a vacuum in thechamber 24. It is, therefore, desirable that provision be made to enablethe vacuum in the chamber 24 to be conveniently broken preparatory tolifting of the cover 30. To this end an atmospheric port 4|" is formedin the cover and the lever 32 carries a sealing member 42 to overlie theouter end of the port 4|. In order, therefore, that the sealing member42 may be removed from its sealing position before force is applied tothe cover for lifting it, the latter is connected to the lever in suchwise as to permit of relative movement between the two. This may, asshown, be accomplished by means of bolts 43 that extend loosely throughthe lever and are threaded into the outer surface of the cover. Thebolts are of such length that when the cover is in the closed positionthe heads of the bolts are out of engagement with the lever' which may,therefore, be moved'independently of the cover 30 for first lifting thesealing member, and the lever next engages the bolt heads for removingthe cover from the casing.

In the arrangement shown, the pressure of the lever 32 is transmitted tothe cover 30 by the sealing member 42, and the sealing member isimbedded in a container 44 that is pivotally connected to the lever 32to enable the sealing member to readily assume a correct position withrespect to the port 4|.

After being processed in the blanching chamber 24 the mate-rial isdumped into the freezing chamber through a transfer opening 45 in thewall 21. The opening 45 is beveled to guide the material toward thecentral portion of the freezing chamber 25 and forms a continuation ofthe inner surface of a-hopper 43 having its lower end 4? seated in thewall 27. The hopper may be constructed of meshy material or be providedwith suitable perforations 58 to permit the free flow of fluid medium toand from the material held by the hopper.

The opening 95 is controled by a valve 48 the lower portion of which isbeveled to conform with the open ng 55 and carries a sealing member 56to engage the surface of the opening 45 for ef-. fecting a seal betweenthe chambers 24 and 25. The valve 451 is of frusto-conical shape and ispivotally connected to an end of an arm 5! the opposite end of which maybe fixedly connected, in any well known manner, to a horizontal. shaft52 journaled in the casing 23. One end of the shaft 52 projects from theside of the casing to the exterior thereof and carries lever 53 wherebythe valve may be manually lifted and lowered with respect to the opening15. Suitable sealing material 54 is inserted in the casing 23 around theshaft 52 to prevent leakage between it and the casing.

The freezing chamber 25 may, as shown, be of somewhat larger diameterthan the chamber 24 and contains a cylindrical basket 55 of meshymaterial and of smaller diameter than the chamber to provide an annularspace 55 between the basket and the casing. The basket rests with itslower end upon a wall 5'! separating the freezing chamber 25 from thestorage chamber 26 and its upper end lies: directly beneath the transferopening 55 to receive the vegetable material and extends into ring 58lying in an annular reces 59 in the casin 23 to assist in holding thebasket coaxial with the casing.

Means are provided for preventing partly processed material from beingdeposited upon frozen material in the lower portion of the freezingchamber. Tothis end plates or baffles, two in the example shown anddesignated 60 and 6 l, are arranged within the basket 55. The bafflesare tiltable and carry trunni'ons 52 that are journaled in support bars63 on the exterior of the basket. The support bars may be secured to thebasket in any suitable manner, as by spot welding, and may beadditionally supported by the ring 53.

The baffles are preferably of elliptical shape to provide points orportions 64 of maximum distance from the axes of rotation of' thebaiiles to ng'age the basket at points above and below the transverseplanes of the trunnions and thereby cause the baffles to always assumeinclined positions for intercepting the material. This is desirable forthe reason that the major portion of the loads of material will thenrest upon the low side of the baffles and only a light force will berequired for tilting them.

In the arrangement shown, the baffles 60 and ti tilt in unison, althoughin opposite directions, and responsively to the movements of the valve'59. They are accordingly connected by a rod 55 that is adjustable forlength and is pivotally connected at one end to a lug 65 on the highwing of the baflie G! and at its opposite end to a lug 51 on the lowwing of the baffle Bil. The rod 65 ,6

thus extends diagonally of the chamber 25 and causes the correspondingends of the bafiles to move simultaneously in opposite directionswhenever tilting force is applied to one of the bafiies.

In the present instance this force is applied, in part, manually throughthe lever 53 and associated elements including the valve 59 and a rod G8on the valve that extends downwardly into the basket 55. The rod isguided at a suitable distance below the valve by a rib 69 extendingacross the bore of an annular plate It seated upon the ring 58 andsecured thereto by bolts H. The lower or free end of the rod is in theform of a point 72 that rests upon the intermediate portion of a bar 53having an end pivotally connected to a lug 'M on and depending from theannular plate 15 into the basket above the high wings of the baffles.

A tension spring l5, also in the basket 55, is connected to the oppositeend of the bar it and to the annular plate it? and presses the bar 13against the pointed end 72 of the rod 53 to cause the bar 13 to followthe movement of the rod. These movements of the bar F5 are transmittedto the bailie 6!? by a rod 75 similar to the rod 55 and pivotallyconnected at its upper end to the bar l3 between the rod 68 and thespring 55. The opposite end of the rod 75 is pivotally connected to thelow wing of the baflle G5.

The portion of the freezing chamber below the baffle 5i may be of acapacity capable of accommodating a desired number of batches of frozenvegetable material, and at its lowermost end is a hopper ll shown as anintegral part of the wa 5i and extending into the storage chamber toguide the frozen product thereinto. The discharge opening 78 of thehopper is normally sealed by a device I 3 similar in all essentialrespects to that used for sealing the charging end of the blanchingchamber 24 and accordingly including a cover i9 containing a sealingmember 85 to engage the end of the hopper ll.

In this arrangement the cover 79 lies above the operating lever 85 towhich it is interlockingly connected by the bolts 43, and the bolts, aswill be'understood, have the required degree of sliding movement in thelever 8| to permit the lever to move relatively to the cover l9 forfirst unseating the sealing member 52 to break the vacuum in thefreezing chamber. The lever ill is moved by manual force applied to anarm 82 located exteriorly of the casin 23 and affixed, in a suitablemanner, to a rocker shaft 83 for the lever 8|.

The storage chamber 25 is preferably of the same capacity as the loweror storage portion of the freezing chamber and has a hopper 8 at itslower end through which the material passes into a guide member 85partly encircling th hopper t l to guide the frozen material into asuitable receptacle for transportation or final storage. The dischargeend 86 of the hopper is normally sealed. by a sealin device 59constructed in all respects and operated in the same manner as thesealing device It.

As has been hereinbefore stated, the material introduced into theblanching chamber for the first step of processing is subjectedsuccessively to a blanching medium such as steam and to a vacuum. Thesteam is introduced into the chamber 24 by a pipe 8? and controlled by avalve 88 in saidpipe. At the lower end of the blanching chamber, in thetransverse plane of the hopper 51, is an outlet opening 89 that opensinto a conduit leading to a condenser 9! of the barometric type forminga part of the evacuating means 22. The condenser has a conduit 92 at itslower end to serve as a condensate outlet.

Communication between the blanching chamber 24 and the condenser iscontrolled by a manually operable valve 93' in the conduit 9S, and anoutlet is provided for the escape of air from the blanching chamber tothe atmosphere by a conduit 94 communicating with the conduit 93 at apoint between the valve t3 and the blanching member 24-, The outlet endof the conduit fi l iscontrolled by a check valve 95 that serves toprevent the flow of air from the atmosphere through the conduit to theblanching chamber, and in an intermediate portion of the conduit 94,between the check valve 95 and the conduit 90 is a thermostatic trap 96,of a well known type, including a casing 91 to which the adjacent endsof the conduit 94 are connected. The valve element 98 is actuated by athermostat 99 for controlling communication between the several sectionsof the conduit 94 attached to the casing 9?.

The means employed for creating the desired vacuum in the freezingchamber 25 comprises a pair of steam jet ejectors I09 and Hit arrangedin tandem between the freezing chamber and the condenser 9|. The ejectormay, as shown, be arranged to discharge directly into the condenser 9|at a point below the conduit 99 and the ejector I09 communicates withthe freezing chamber 25 at a point near the upper end thereof through aconduit I92. Another stage of pumping in the evacuating means 22 iseffected by a steam jet ejector I03 connected to the upper end of thecondenser 9|.

The operation of the device is as follows: Let it be assumed that allthe jet ejectors are in operation for evacuating the freezer chamber 25and the condenser 9| and that it be intended to charge the blanchingchamber 24 with material for the initial step of processing it. Underthese conditions the valve 49 rests upon the beveled surface of thetransfer opening 45 to seal the upper end of the freezing chamber, andthe outlet ends of the hoppers I1 and 84 are sealed by the devices l8and I9. The valve 93 then also occupies its closed position to preventcommunication between the blanching chamber and the evacuating means.

After the vegetable material has been placed in the blanching chamber 24the cover 39 is placed upon the seating surface 29 and the sealingmember over the port 4! and both are clamped in sealing position bymeans of the nut 49. Steam is then introduced into the blanching chamberthrough the pipe 81 for blanching the material. The steam thus admittedinto the chamber 24 drives the air therefrom through the outlet opening89, the conduit 94 to the atmosphere, and when the steam reaches thethermostat 99 the v latter will move the valve 98 into, position tocutoff communication between the blanching chamber and the atmosphere.The chamber 24 will then be completely sealed and steam'of the requiredpressure, as for example eight pounds gauge, will be permitted to flowinto the blanching chamber for a suitable period of time, say two orthree minutes, to effect inactivation of the enzymes contained in thefood product.

At the expiration of the blanching period the time of which, as will bereadily understood, may Vary with the pressure of the steam and theproduct being treated, the flow of steam into the blanching chamber 24is cut-off. Immediately thereafter the Valve 93 is opened to place theblanching chamber 24 in communication with the condenser 9| and therebysubject the material to thecondenser pressure which is preferablymaintained at about one and one-half inches of mercury, absolute.

After the blanching chamber 24 has been evacuated the valve 49 is liftedto permit the material to flow into the basket 55. During the upwardmovement of the valve the spring will contact and lift the free end ofthe bar 13 there- 6 by causing the baille 60 to tilt into the baffle 6|to tilt out of engagement with the basket.

The material will then lodge upon the baffle B0, and upon the subsequentlowering of the valve 49 to its sealing position its movement istransmitted through the rod 68 and associated linkage to the baffles forrocking them simultaneously to their other limiting positions. Duringthis movement of the baffles the material is dumped from the baffle 60upon the baffle 6| where it will remain as long as the valve 49 occupiesits sealing position and will be subjected to the higher vacuum in thefreezing chamber, say to an absolute pressure of about one inch mercury,or as required to effect complete freezing thereof.

Meanwhile, the chamber 24 is again charged with material, it beingunderstood, of course, that during this time the valve 93 is firstclosed to cut-off communication between the blanching chamber and theevacuating means 22. After the new batch of material has been blanchedand the chamber 24 again evacuated the valve 49 is raised to dump thematerial into the freezing chamber. The spring 15 will then tilt thebaflles 60 and 6| to bring the bafile 69 into position for interceptingthe material dropping from the chamber 24 and to dump the previous batchfrom the baflle 6| into the lower portion of the freezing chamber. Thissequence of events may be repeated until the storage space below thebaflle 6] has been filled.

Whenever it is intended to remove the frozen productfrom the freezingchamber and assuming, of course, that the sealing device l9 occupies itssealing position on'the end of the hopper 84, the sealing device I8 isremoved from the end of the hopper TI. The frozen product will then fallinto the storage chamber 25,'whence it may be removed for final storage.

After the product has been thus transferred to the storage chamber 26the sealing device I8 is again placed in its sealing position and theprocessing steps heretofore described may be repeated in the chambers 24and 25 for treating other batches of material.

From the foregoing description it will be readily appreciated that thevacuum in the freezing chamber need be broken only at widely spacedintervals of time. For example, in a unit having a storage space in thefreezing chamber capable of accommodating six batches of material andassuming that the time required for blanching, freezing and transferringthe material thereto is approximately five minutes per batch, the vacuumin the freezing chamber need be broken only at intervals of thirtyminutes, or thereabouts. This is a highly desirable feature since itobviates the frequent exposure of the product to air which, as is wellknown, has a deleterious effect upon the vitamin content of many foodmaterials.

A further highly desirable feature of the pres.- ent invention is thatit makes possible the handling of the material in such a way that afterthe air has been expelled from the blanching chamber the material neednot again be exposed to air until it is completely frozen.

Moreover, owing to the arrangement of the baffles 69 and 6| and themanner in which they operate it will be impossible for only partlyprocessed material to reach the storage space in'the freezing chamberand be transferred into the storage chamber 26 in that condition.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for processing vegetable material and the like, comprisinga casing having a plurality of chambers to receive the materialsuccessively for different steps of treatment, means operable manuallyfrom the exterior of the casing for effecting the discharge of materialfrom one chamber into another, and means for evacuating the chambers andmaintain a vacuum in the said chambers during the transference ofmaterial from one chamber to another.

2. Apparatus for processing vegetable material and the like, comprisinga casing having a blanching chamber and a freezing chamber at a lowerelevation than the blanching chamber, removable closure means betweenthe chambers, means operable manually from the exterior of the casingfor removing the closure means to permit the discharge of material bygravity from the blanching chamber into the freezing chamber, andevacuating means for the said chambers to maintain a vacuum thereinduring the transference of material from the blanching chamber to thefree"'=- ing chamber.

3. Apparatus for processing vegetable material and the like, comprisinga casing having a cham ber to serve alternately as a blanching chamberand a vacuum chamber, a second vacuum chamber in the casing to serveconstantly as a freez=- ing chamber and having an outlet opening, meansoperable manually from the exterior of the casing to selectiveiy controlcommunication between the chambers and to permit the transfer ofmaterial directly from the blanching chamber to the freezing chamberduring the time both chambers are subjected to a vacuum, a storagechamber in the casing to receive frozen material from the freezingchamber and having an outlet opening, and. manually operable sealingmeans for the outlet opening to selectively control the flow of materialthrough said outlet openings.

4. Apparatus for processing vegetable material and the like, comprisinga casing having a blanching chamber and a freezing chamber, means in thecasing to define a transfer opening between the chambers, a closure forthe transfer opening, means for operating the closure to permit thetransfer of batches of material by gravity through the said opening fromthe blanching chamber into the freezing chamber, and means in thefreezing chamber movable to different positions responsively to themovement of the closure for intercepting each batch of material and.dumping it to a lower level in the freezing chamber.

5. Apparatus for processing vegetable material and the like, comprisinga casing having a blanching chamber, a freezing chamber at a lowerelevation than the blanching chamber and a storage chamber at a lowerelevation than the freezing chamber to permit the transfer of materialby gravity from one chamber to another, means in the casing to define adischarge opening at the lower portion of each chamber for the passageof material therethrough, individual closures for the dischargeopenings, means operable from the exterior of the casing for moving theclosures with respect to the discharge openings, and evacuating meansfor maintaining a vacuum in the chambers during the transfer of materialfrom one chamber to the other.

FRANK B DOYLE.

